Minister Quinn announces 70 major school building projects as part of €2bn five year plan

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, T.D., is announcing the 70 school projects which are scheduled for construction in 2014.

A €2 billion five-year capital investment programme, launched by Minister Quinn in March 2012, gave details of 275 new major school building projects to begin over the period 2012-2016.

The new school buildings and major extensions which are being announced today are part of the five year plan.

Some €470 million will be spent on primary and post-primary infrastructure next year, with a projected expenditure on large scale projects of over €320 million.

The 70 major projects scheduled to proceed to construction in 2014 are:

22 new schools at primary level

12 extensions at primary level

12 new schools at second-level

20 extensions at second-level

3 new special schools and 1 major special school extension

These school projects will deliver over 27,500 permanent school places and of these over 21,000 are additional places. The remainder will be the replacement of temporary or unsatisfactory accommodation.

Together with the school projects already announced in July last under the “Jobs and Investment” package and other ongoing projects from 2013, this means that a total of 168 major school projects will be on site next year.

In addition, the Minister confirmed that a total of 44 major school projects have now reached substantial completion in 2013.

Announcing details of the 2014 building programme Minister Quinn said, “I am delighted to confirm today the major school projects which will be built next year.”

“Not only will quality permanent school places be built for 27,500 pupils across the country, but this significant investment will support 3,200 direct jobs and 640 indirect jobs in 2014.”

Minister Quinn continued, “Despite our economic difficulties, we have a pressing need to provide new schools and major extensions to continue to meet the accommodation requirements of our growing school going population.

“We are facing massive increases in the number of school going children in the coming years. Total enrolment in both primary and post-primary schools is expected to grow by over 70,000 between now and 2017 – over 45,000 at primary level and 25,000 at post primary – and will continue to grow up to at least 2024 at second level.”

“My primary aim is to ensure that every child growing up in Ireland can access a place in a classroom when they go to school,” Minister Quinn concluded.

Today’s announcement is part of the Government’s plan to provide more than 100,000 permanent school places over the course of the five year plan.

As 2014 progresses, projects scheduled to begin building in 2015/16 will be assessed to see if they are ready to go to construction earlier than planned, and if there is financial scope to do so.

Details of the progress of all major projects listed in the Five Year Plan will continue to be maintained and updated on the Department’s website, www.education.ie